Sunday, May 31, 2015

I made some homemade granola with oats (of course), a bit of ground flax, slivered almonds, and a mixture of coconut oil, homemade applesauce and a bit of sugar. I seasoned it with a pinch of salt, some pumpkin pie spice and a little ground cardamom. It's tasty, and we have dried fruit on hand that we can add to individual servings.

I made salsa one afternoon, using canned tomatoes, fresh onion and jalapeno pepper, garlic, cumin, lime juice, salt and dried chipotle powder. It's tasty and affordable. I also made chicken stock from a chicken frame, water and some Montreal seasoning...which became the base for chicken noodle soup. We used at coupon at Penzey's to try a new spice blend - we chose the Turkish seasoning. It's a new flavor for us, but we like it. I used it this week in kabobs and a yogurt sauce for vegetables. I made a half batch of cornbread mix this week - enough to last us several months. Toward the end of the week I made blueberry muffins and used up some odds and ends in fried rice.

This fried rice has asparagus, onion and radish from our garden, plus an egg from our hens.

Fresh pineapples were on sale last week and part of this week, for $1 each. I ended up price matching at Walmart, and bought three of them. I cut them into cubes and froze 8 containers to use for smoothies, plus we have eaten plenty of fresh pineapple. Just for fun, I checked the price in the store and a 1 lb. bag of frozen pineapple was $2.49. Each of my containers is about 12 oz. (3/4 pound), so I think it was worth it to cut, freeze and package.

Our other 'good deals' at the supermarket have been whole chickens for .88/lb, mangoes 3/$1, apples for .88/lb and sour cream for $1/16oz. container.

I've been brushing Taffy's coat on a regular basis. She is shedding, plus she needs to learn that this is part of her routine. She is tolerating me, which is a good start. Since she is a home-groomed pup, we are both learning as we go. I've learned so far to trim her nails and express her anal glands. I bathe her (she is bigger now, so truth be told, it happens less often), and trim the tufts of fur between her toes, to keep them from gathering so much mud. I think my next goal is puppy dental hygiene.

We put in a walkway and a driveway last year, which created a new, larger flower bed along the front of our house. I have been looking around at what we have growing here on our property, and dividing and transplanting plants. Last fall, I divided some Russian Sage, Bearded Iris and Peony plants, all of which seem to have transplanted quite well. When I find a perennial flower that has sprouted outside the flower bed, or a large clump of a perennial, I move it or divide it and take half to a space that needs a flower. I started some perennial seeds indoors, too, including Oriental Poppy and Scarlet Flax.

I wanted something as a back drop for our flower beds up front....something that would be easy to care for, green, low maintenance, and affordable. Our flower bed in front of our house is rather deep, so the plants closest to the house can be rather 'plain'. I decided on....horseradish. It only gets about 2 feet tall, and it seems to love it here. We planted some about 10-12 years ago - little dry roots we ordered from a seed catalog. It has multiplied rather a lot, without taking over entirely. The foliage is pretty, and it comes back every year without fail, so we dug up a clump that was under the clothes line (the area used to be an herb garden), divided it, and we planted it along the front of the house. I have another plant in the old herb garden - it is either Feverfew or Chervil - that is growing quite well and is very pretty. It has fern-like leaves and white flowers later in the season (but it isn't Chamomile). I transplanted some of that to the front, and also transplanted some mint, to act as a ground cover. It will probably take me a couple of years to get this area entirely 'filled in', but I want to do as much as I can with plants I have or can trade with other gardening friends. It might take a little longer, but I think it's more fun that way....plus, it's a lot more affordable.

I also have flower seeds for annuals that I am planting up front, to fill in and give lots of color. I am not good at formal beds, even though I think they are beautiful. Mine will be more of a cottage garden, with flowers tucked in here and there, lots of different colors (I hope!) and some herbs and shrubs, too. I'm digging around in all the 'stuff' we have, looking for things I can add for visual interest. I have some larger stones/small boulders, some drift wood, and a lovely old cultivator, but I think I might find a few more items out in the barn and sheds.

OK....after digging around some, I was able to do this:

I have marigolds planted in the wagon, alyssum in the tipped-over pot, and stocks, forget-me-nots and zinnias in the other pots. Hopefully, everything will sprout soon and begin to fill in.

In the back yard, I did this:

The logs are simply firewood that we had not split yet, and are mostly to give some height and put the lantern up at a nice height. My friend gave me the coleus plants - rootings from her plants, and I put them into a pot I already had. I sprinkled in some alyssum and marigolds to fill in as well. At the base of the tree I planted some sweet peas and marigolds, and zinnias in the pots.

A baby bunny figured out that there was plenty of space for her to scoot through between the gate and the fence in the vegetable garden, so she feasted on kale and chard. I found a piece of plywood that would fit along the bottom of the door to keep her from doing that again (at least, without digging). I used a couple of short pieces of rebar to hold the wood in place. We have to step over it when we go in and out, but the kale and chard are already making a comeback.

The blocks are holding the netting in place, to keep the chickens out. I have kale, spinach, radishes and beets planted in them.

When the container ran out, I made some homemade insecticidal soap. I pretty much just read a few online recipes and then used stuff I had on hand - olive oil, a bit of Dawn dish soap and some water. I didn't measure - just estimated.

I pulled some radishes from our garden. When I pick some, I plant more seeds in the space left vacant. I already have baby sprouts filling in where I picked the first two times. I picked a nice bunch of asparagus this week too!

Husband changed the oil and filter on our car. A couple of weeks ago he changed the serpentine belt. He saves us all kinds of cost by doing car and truck maintenance.

Daughter had her end-of-year school picnic this past week. It was on the far side of town, at a park near our favorite nature center. We made an afternoon of it - after the picnic we went to the nature center and walked along the songbird trail and the creek trail. Our favorite used bookstore is on that side of town too, so we stopped in there, visited with the owner, and picked up a couple of books. We can use store credit for half the sale price, which makes their books really affordable. There is a Dunkin' Donuts in that same area, and I had a (birthday) coupon for a free drink that we shared mid-afternoon. We popped into the bread outlet on the way home and got some bread and English muffins to stock us for the next 2-3 weeks.

We borrowed books and media from the library, and I worked about 8 hours this week as a substitute. The Pearson project I was working on ended a couple weeks ago, but training for a new project is just beginning, so I will be busy with that as well.

How was your week? Leave a comment and let me know what is keeping you busy these days!

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Well, hello! Things got busy - last week, I didn't get a post completed! This week, you get two weeks in one!

LAST WEEK:

Most of the garden is planted, and we will mulch as the plants sprout, to conserve water. We have planted quite a few herbs and a few flowers around the perimeter of the garden. We have three areas that are protected from the deer. One is planted with all the different vines - pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash and gourds. Half the chicken run is netted to keep the hens at bay, and we planted scarlet beans, edamame, baby limas, green beans, patty pan squash, zucchini, kale, carrots, beets, spinach and a zinnia. There are also sugar snap peas in there that we planted previously. In the new garden, we've planted baby bok choi, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, wax beans, sunflowers, arugula, sweet peas, assorted lettuces and beets, along with the tomatoes, chard, spinach, kale, lettuces and radishes that we planted previously. Things are tucked in most everywhere, but I still have about 10 sq. feet I can plant.

Husband planted the rest of the tree branches that we had cut and rooted, so we have some poplar saplings that will fill in some empty spaces. Some are a fast-growing poplar, others are a silver or white variety.

I moved some perennial flower plants, mostly blanket flower and plains coreopsis that had seeded outside the flower beds. I discovered a planter that had sprouted numerous chamomile plants, so I moved it near some other planters I had recently set plants into. I have also noticed that there are a few Jerusalem Artichokes growing under my clothes line, so I need to find a place to relocate them. Happily, some mint that I transplanted near our house has taken well - I will move more this year.

On a sad note, we had some late, cold weather, and it got down into the mid-20's a couple of nights. We lost a lot of the fruit on our fruit trees because of this, but it appears that some fruit is going to set on the south side of some of the trees....maybe. We are hopeful.

Daughter spotted a Western Tanager in our yard. We took a few photos....this is a good one.

I brought lilac blossoms inside to enjoy.

We ate more meatless meals, using things like beans or lentils, eggs and cheese for our protein sources. I made waffles in the new waffle iron and froze some for 'toaster' waffles. I got a 'waffle cookbook' from the library that has recipes to cook all sorts of things in a waffle iron. I made some 'waffle fries' one night for supper. They were pretty good! You start with fairly dry mashed potatoes, and end up with crispy-outside-fluffy-inside 'fries'. There is also a recipe in there where pizza crust is cooked in the waffle iron, then topped and broiled in the oven...that might be interesting too!

I participated in two Pinecone Research surveys. I did very little scoring for Pearson this week (hello, burnout), but I subbed some at the library.

My friend and I met for lunch. We went out to eat, but not at a restaurant. We met at a nearby park that has picnic tables. We each brought our own sandwich and drink, she brought a lovely bean salad and I brought a fruit salad and sliced pickles. It was really nice to visit, catch up a bit, and just enjoy one another's company.

There was a good sale on strawberries this past week. They were very good, so we ended up buying about 7 pounds of them. I thought I'd be freezing a lot of them, but we ate a lot of them. I froze about three pounds to use in smoothies.

Over the weekend, we went fishing. The fish weren't biting, but it was a relaxing day, enjoying the great outdoors. It was kind of cold, especially when the sun was behind clouds, but we had a nice time.

THIS WEEK

I had some little pump dispensers for hand soap that were not being used. I put shampoo into one and conditioner into the other. This is a lot easier for me to use in the shower - it dispenses more quickly than upending a bottle and waiting for the shampoo or conditioner to pour out, plus I am using less because each pump delivers a small amount. (When I pour from the big bottle, I often get more than I need.) It's a little thing, but over time, it's a little less shower time each day, a little less product each time, and I feel like every little bit helps.

Pineapples were $1 each this week, so we got 2. We will eat some and freeze some for smoothies. Pork and beans were .50/can and lettuce was .99 a head. We also bought some chicken/apple sausage for grilling, on sale for 2.99/lb. I picked some asparagus from the garden and used some green onion tops from the garden for a couple of meals. I bought a rotisserie chicken from Costco on a very busy day. We have had several meals from it so far and will have another tomorrow.

I was able to help a friend by having her daughter come play while she did some errands. She brought me a watermelon as a thank you!

roses at the zoo

I took Daughter to her class field trip at the Denver Zoo. Admission was deeply discounted for our group. We were early and got great (free!) parking. We took lunch from home and had a really nice day.

My birthday was earlier this month, and we are still picking up my free items here and there. I've been sharing them with my family on errand days.

I did more subbing at the library and contracted for some programs for summertime. We borrowed books and media from the library as well.

Kohl's sent me at $10 post card. I got some cute kitchen towels and some honeysuckle wax melts, along with a bit of candy that didn't last long enough to be in the photo.

I hope that everything is going well for you and yours. What have you been doing to spend less, save more and make do? Leave a comment so we can learn from you, won't you please?

Friday, May 22, 2015

I was really excited to get my hands on Anna Jones' book a modern way to eat: 200+ satisfying vegetarian recipes (that will make you feel amazing). I've been working on changing my own eating habits to include less meat, and I was looking forward to ideas and inspiration for more meatless meals.

This book is quite large - over 350 pages - and it has a fair number of photographs. There is a lot here, but there are a few reasons that, ultimately, the book just didn't appeal to me.

I am annoyed that so many of the recipes start on the right-hand page and then continue onto the next page, requiring the cook to flip pages while cooking. It feels like poor formatting to me. A little bit of planning - switching a few things around here and there - would have fixed that.

Reading through the book, I get the sense that the author is 'being fancy', just a bit. I will admit, I'm sensitive to (and annoyed by) recipes that call for things like 'three free-ranged, organic, pastured eggs', because frankly, I find it a bit snobbish. I would rather see cookbook authors encouraging readers to cook with the best they can afford, then let it go. An intro that discusses the quality of fresh, wholesome ingredients is a great idea, but it almost feels like a form of elitism when the author mentions 'organic, unwaxed lemons' every. single. time.

In the end, while I appreciate the opportunity to review the book for Blogging for Books, I didn't really find anything here that I'm excited to try. I found I could not relate to the author and her lifestyle (lots of higher-end ingredients, for example), so in the end, I just wasn't that interested in cooking her food. Sorry, Ms. Jones.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Well, I have a dinner plan for the week. It's vague in a few places, because I'm going to be checking to see what's on hand in the freezer. The freezer is really full right now, so things 'toward the top' have the best chance of landing on the table. It's a chest freezer, can you tell? We may have a change in plans late week, but I'd rather have something in mind, just in case.

F - waffle deliciousness of some sort - I have the book Will it Waffle waiting on the hold shelf at the library. Once I've seen it, I'll figure out what we want to try.S - stir fry of meat, sauce, zucchini, peppers, onion, cabbage, carrots…. rice, kimchee, noriI plan to make a batch of waffles too, and try putting some in the freezer to re-heat using the toaster (just like the ones we used to buy when I was a kid).

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Just over a week ago, we celebrated my birthday. Husband has helped me find and sign up for all the various birthday 'clubs' that merchants in our area have to offer, so I have a tidy stash of freebie coupons, mostly for meals and food items. I have been picking things up on days we are in town and sharing them with my family. It has made for some fun (and interesting!) treats and snacks. Some of the items have been meals or parts of meals for us, so we've strayed a bit from our menu plan, but at very little or no cost.

I found some violets that were out in the middle of an area where we used to have some blueberries. I moved the violets to the border around my tiny garden.

I have picked asparagus and chives from the garden. I also keep nibbling at the mint, but I haven't really picked it yet, I just keep pulling off a leaf at a time, because it's yummy. We are getting plenty of eggs as well.

Last summer we put in a gravel driveway, which left us with a place where we are trying to get grass started. There was some grass growing in the driveway - isn't that how things happen sometimes? - and when we pulled it up, there were good roots on all the little bits of it, so we made little trenches and planted the 'driveway grass' in the area where we have recently seeded. It might sound tedious, but it was really quite quick to do, and hopefully, the grasses we planted will take root and continue to grow. They look really good, and I think they will make it just fine.

I continued my efforts scoring essays for Pearson and subbing at the library. My total hours (for both) added up to almost 33 hours. I did less scoring on my birthday, but the project also ended early, so I was not able to do more hours on the days after that. I took two surveys for Pinecone Research, and I did a children's program at the library with my chickens. The kids loved them! Poppy pooped on the floor....one of the kids said I should name her 'Poopy' instead, har har. I cleaned up the mess and all was well.

I enjoyed time with a friend, just visiting and laughing.

The lilacs are blooming, but it is very cold, wet and rainy here. I ventured out and picked a few, shook off the water and put them in a mason jar on our kitchen table. They smell heavenly!

I made Mother's Day cards for my mom and mother in-law.

We found some bargains at the grocery store, including flour tortillas that were free after sale and coupon, fresh spinach and leaf lettuces for .99, 2lb. bags of carrots for .99, 10 lb. bags of russet potatoes for .99 and honeydew melons for .98 each. There are good produce prices nearly every week here - we just stock up on the best sales week to week and that helps us with variety. There was a good sale on dry beans - .99/lb, so I got black beans, lentils and red lentils.

homemade chocolate strawberries - berries were 1.33/lb, dark chocolate chips were
.99/pkg. back at Christmas, and we added a bit of coconut oil. So pretty - and tasty too!

I went to the bread outlet store this week, and for $10.50 I got 3 loaves of good (whole grain) bread, a loaf of caraway rye (my favorite!) 2 packages of English muffins, a package of dinner rolls, a package of whole grain sandwich thins and a package of sub sandwich rolls. If you spend $10 or more, you get a free item from a special rack, so I stocked up and put everything in the freezer. I have nearly completed my punch card, so I'll get 2 free loaves of bread soon too.

I received my next selection from Blogging for Books, and will have the review ready soon.

I received a $10 gift postcard from Kohls. I love these!

I signed up for a free subscription to Weight Watchers magazine, and a while back (I forgot to tell you) Husband got me a free subscription to Martha Stewart Living.

We used the wood stove to keep the house warm....because we have had a crazy week of rain, hail and snow. My dream is to get the flannel sheets off the beds by Independence Day! Meanwhile, we've been covering flowers and the asparagus plants as needed.

I went to Goodwill on a day when I was in town for other things, and picked up three shirts for me for $9. I was needing something lighter for spring and summer, and I'm happy with what I found.

On the local buy-sell-trade Facebook page, I posted that I was looking for a waffle iron that would make four toaster-size waffles. I got one for $5. It is in excellent condition.

My friend loaned me a magazine that has some recipes that I want to try soon.

Did you have a good week? What sorts of things did you do to spend less, save more and make do?

Sunday, May 3, 2015

I am still scoring for Pearson and subbing at the library this week, plus we have several days that have other obligations as well, so our menu for the week is really simple. I am trying a new recipe on Sunday (the chicken poppers) but it is a really simple one, and everything else for the week is quick to put together. All the staple items and meats are from our pantry and freezer - we bought produce this week, and the asparagus is from our garden (yippee!).

I am still working to eat less meat and more vegetables, so I have a vegetable omelet or a whole grain muffin with some fresh fruit. Daughter likes muffins or oatmeal, and we also have some quiche that can be warmed up for a quick breakfast. I may steam some eggs for quick breakfasts and snacks. We have cubed cheese on hand, lightly salted almonds, dried fruit and plenty of other quick, simple snack options. Lunches are generally leftovers from supper, so I just skip the meat item. I have some seasoned lentils I made to provide protein and fiber for me.

That's about it for planning for me - what's on the menu for you this week?

Saturday, May 2, 2015

The asparagus bed provides enough asparagus to eat it
1-2 times per week.

We started the month with $161.90, a little short of our $180 that we usually have for groceries, because we went over a bit in March. We were fine, because we had all the things we'd stocked in March. We did not do as much stocking up in April - there were fewer deals, and I think I even missed a few. (I have been subbing at the library and scoring for Pearson, so I've been rather busy.) I was going to get more of the dried figs we got several months ago from Costco, but they don't have them anymore, and one of the ladies at their service desk told me they have been 'deleted'. I am sad about that - I really loved those figs! Still, we are blessed with a variety of foods in our freezer and pantry. Here are the items we added in April:

Crepes - made with eggs from our hens - peaches from our peach trees are in the sauce.

We ended April with $21.81 left, so we will start May with a little extra! I did the math, and we spent approximately $19.50 a week on things like milk, produce, snacks and items that were planned for immediate use.

eggs, from our hens

For May, I can't say that I have a big 'plan'. We have a lot of variety on hand when it comes to meat, plus I am trying to eat less meat and get more of my protein from plant sources. Baked beans, pork & beans, bean w/bacon soup and canned fruit are all places where I will stock if there are good sales, though I expect better prices on some of those items when summer arrives. I think we'll be buying nori (dried seaweed sheets) this month, and probably some shredded cheese toward the end of May. Since we are in really good shape as far as the freezer and pantry are concerned, this may be a good month to stock up on popcorn from Sam's. I know our Costco membership ends in a month or two, so there may be a couple of things we'll stock from there as well. I am low on coconut oil, but my friend will get that for me when she goes back to the Midwest to visit family. (The price she gets from the local Mennonite market is really good!)

We planted the tomato sets, and hope to harvest tomatoes beginning in June.

These pea plants will provide us with sugar snap peas...hopefully by the end of May.

What are you planning to replenish in your pantry? What great deals have allowed you to stock up lately?

The area where we installed our clothes lines used to be my herb garden. I have moved herbs to the area that surrounds one of the fenced gardens, since the deer don't bother the herbs. If the plant was large enough to split, I put some herbs into the flower bed as well. That way I have 'backup', and can also choose to let the flower bed ones bloom for flower arrangements and/or seed. I moved the rhubarb to the base of the two clothesline poles, and since I'll be watering those in, I planted a few morning glory seeds there as well, hoping that they will climb the clothesline poles and bloom - wouldn't that be sweet? I did not move the mint, because it tends to take over, and even with the (nominal) foot traffic from hanging clothes, I think it will do fine where it has always been.

The pea plants are sprouting!

I put the seedlings out in the fresh air and sunshine a few times to help them adapt for when they get transplanted. This really helps them and makes them more hardy. The tomatoes go into little water huts called 'Wall-o-Water', and I have already put those in. Before I planted them, I dug deeper and put in some crushed eggshells and some coffee grounds into the soil, which will help improve the soil for them.

Husband planted the tiny poplar trees that we started by rooting branches in water. These tend to grow very quickly, and that is what we are needing right now. Often, the start to die out or lose branches when they are 8-10 years old, so we are planting them as a 'fast solution', but we also planted Ponderosa Pines (we are alternating the two types of trees) that will fill in more slowly, but last much longer. For planting we are using polymer crystals that we had on hand, plus some we got free at the household materials drop off site. Our fertilizer is some we had on hand, plus rabbit droppings from our bunnies. They make very good fertilizer. The mulch we will use comes from a local site and is free with a canned food donation and/or you can pay $4 to have the end loader fill your truck with a huge scoop - a very good deal!

I planted flowers in the blue pot on the front porch. Daughter got me the geranium for my birthday. The marigolds, zinnias, pansies, alyssum and salvia are all seedlings we started from seed at home.

We found a few good grocery deals this week. 16 oz. sour cream w/chives was on markdown for .50, Butterball turkey dinner sausage (think smoked sausage) was .49 per package after sale and coupon, Kraft dressings were .99 each and Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips were .49/5.5oz bag after sale and coupon. Milk was 1.99 a gallon, romaine lettuce was .99/head and actually, all of that ended up being free, since I got those items at King Sooper and had a $25 store credit from the prescription that Husband transferred. The other deals this week included yellow mangoes 3/$1, .79/lb for tomatoes, bacon for $2/lb, and cucumbers for .48/ea. I picked up some sliced cheese at Costco, too. When the sales changed, we got pork shoulder roast for .89/lb after sale and additional discount, 6oz. Planter's trail mix for .77/ea., celery for .98/bunch, onions for .48/lb, zucchini for .98/lb, and tomatoes and jalapenos for .59/lb. The store was out of avocadoes (3/$1) but the sale goes into next week, so I may still be able to get some.

I made extras of the various vegetables so I'd have leftovers for lunches the next day...and sometimes breakfast too. I am trying to eat more vegetables and that is an easy way to make it happen. I've been trying some new recipes that have more vegetables in them, plus still having vegetable sides. My friend shared a layered salad and a bok choy dish that she had made as well.

I've stayed busy with subbing at the library some and scoring essays...just over 36 hours this past week, between the two. I also took a couple of surveys for Pinecone Research.

We borrowed books and media from the library.

I did a little shopping on the local buy-sell-trade Facebook page. I got this scale for $2. It was dusty and needed to be readjusted, but it seems to weigh accurately - I'm really happy with it! The lady I bought it from was also giving away some things - I got a box of 'garage stuff' - some scrapers, paint roller handles, a nice squeegee, etc.

﻿﻿﻿

sleepy puppy

I will post our dinner menu for the new week very soon. (They are here.)It's been a busy week with Daughter's schooling, plus working, cooking, trying to keep up with the house, etc. Did you have a good week? What did you do to spend less, save more and make do?